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Masque Of The Red Death Essay

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“Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe is full of literary elements such as antagonist, climax, imagery, personification, and symbolism. Throughout the plenary story these elements are present. The antagonist, or ‘villain’, of “Masque of the Red Death” is the Red Death. It is the antagonist because it causes all of the tribulation in the story. The Red Death appears at Prince Prospero’s masquerade party and causes all of the party goers to die from the disease which it is named after. Clearly, the Red Death is an antagonist because it kills everyone and causes the main conflict, or climax, of the story. The climax of the story is when the ‘mysterious party goer’ is discovered during the midnight clock clang and what precedes afterwards. The climax is when the story reaches it’s highest point, or it’s most intense point. When the Red Death shows up and Prince Prospero chases after him and the chase ends in the Prince’s ultimate demise, along with the rest of the bedfellows. This is climatic because the whole story had been leading up to this point and then …show more content…

Prince Prospero’s castle represented his intention to prevent his death; he locks himself and his closest friends and entertainers in his castle and seals all of them off from the dying outside world. By doing so he ultimately seals his death because no one, even himself, can get in or out of the castle. Another symbol is “The Ebony Clock is a constant reminder of death and symbolizes the inevitability of it. The revelers could neither stop its pendulum from swinging nor could they prevent its ominous tones from dampening their enthusiasm.” (A Guide), this symbol is mentioned multiple times throughout the story reminding everyone attending the party that death is inescapable and you can’t hide from it, even if at the moment the attendees do not realize that this is the purpose of the

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